..A Freeper Vet goes to the Vietnam Wall..

"ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET

...Over Veterans Day Weekend each year we surviving Veterans of the 1st Major Battle of the Vietnam War held in the Valley of Death that was the IA DRANG of 1965...

...greet the dawn's early light of a beautiful Sunday morning standing at the 3rd Panel of the Vietnam Wall. We go there, under the fresh shadow of the Washington Monument, to pay honor to our fallen U.S. 7th Cavalry Brothers who fell forever in that Valley of Death on behalf of the FREEDOM of Others.

...Though no exception, this year's Veterans Day Weekend in Washington, D.C. was truly unforgettable.

...Fellow IA DRANG Veteran and War Correspondent JOSEPH GALLOWAY, the only civilian who has been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor, writes about our IA DRANG Alumni Conference Weekend and of our obligation drawing us there for our fallen Brothers each year in his outstanding Kight-Ridder Article titled:

..'Remembering brothers on Veterans Day'

...A Link to this outstanding Article follows.

...Present and future U.S. 7th Cavalry Congressional Medal of Honor Recipiants stand side by side with the rest of us former U.S. 7th Cavalry SkyTroopers in unabashed gratitude at The Vietnam Wall to those who gave all they had long ago so that others may live in FREEDOM.

...This year's IA DRANG Alumni Conference Dinner Keynote Speaker was fellow IA DRANG Veteran JACK SMITH, now a retired ABC News Correspondent, who was wounded 4 times in the IA DRANG Valley 38 years ago. JACK SMITH's father was ABC News TV Anchorman HOWARD K. SMITH, the most honest of all American TV Anchormen reporting about our Fight for Freedom during the Vietnam War. This as opposed to former CBS News TV Anchorman WALTER CRONKITE ...who was lying to us on TV for the other side, our Communist Terrorist Enemy.

...JACK SMITH now finds himself in another fight for his life ...in a private war with Pancreatic Cancer.

...How profound it is to see today's Communist Vietnam, under threat from Terrorist Attacks and the encroaching Power of Communist China emerging all over East Asia, move closer to America for its own protection in a new Time of War. And to see an America reaching out to Communist Vietnam for exactly the same reasons..!!! It's a new World.

...Who would have thought so long ago in a land that was so very far away that we would live long enough to see this new world come our way back when...

.."WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE and YOUNG"..?

Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965

NEVER FORGET

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...May GOD Bless our FREEDOM Fighters, always...

[ALOHA RONNIE]

'Remembering brothers on Veterans Day'


...by JOSEPH GALLOWAY


http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/galloway/7188148.htm

[katnip]

May GOD Bless our FREEDOM Fighters, always

Amen

[ALOHA RONNIE]

..Clear, cool air graced us all...

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET


...and what of the IA DRANG..?


'RONNIE GUYER PHOTO COLLECTION'


http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm


NEVER FORGET

[Fred Mertz]

Bless all our veterans, living and deceased. Especially bless those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Ronnie, I saw pictures of the Rocky Versace monument in Alexandria, VA. I must visit it when I next visit.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

A NEVER FORGET PING

ALOHA RONNIE : Thank You Brother for Never Forgetting

[dighton]

JACK SMITH now finds himself in another fight for his life ...in a private war with Pancreatic Cancer.

Sorry to read that.

Death in the Ia Drang Valley, by Pfc Jack P. Smith.

Thank you, Aloha Ronnie, and God bless you.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...As Lt. Col. HAL G. MOORE said to his Hero Soldiers at the Battle of IA DRANG-1965...

.."That's just Outstanding"

[Tribune7]

God bless you, Ronnie.

[Soaring Feather]

Never Forget bump

[Soaring Feather]

bump

[South40]

Thank You Ronnie!

Enjoyed the pics.

-SoFo

[GeronL]

May GOD Bless our FREEDOM Fighters, always

A massive internal bump!!

[ALOHA RONNIE]

MEL GIBSON is...


Lt. Col. HAL G. MOORE / IA DRANG


http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com

[herewego]

Prayers sent...

[DLfromthedesert]

Thank you for your service, Ronnie, and prayers for Jack Smith.

You all should be proud of your service; you did a GREAT job; it was our politicians who failed.

[redrock]

NEVER FORGET!!!

....and pass on the memories to your children...so that they will understand the cost of Freedom.

redrock

[kayak]

May we honor our veterans not only on November 11th but each and every day.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...In his Keynote Speach to us Saturday Night JACK SMITH had 3 points to make:

...First, JACK related how reports of his impending demise from Pancreatic Cancer were greatly exaggerated as he intends to beat it. He feels good after 8 weeks of Radiation/Chemo Therapy and I have to say that I've never seen him look better.

...Second, JACK related the horror of his being wounded 4 times while fighting at Landing Zone Albany in the IA DRANG Valley of November 1965, reading in part from his Saturday Evening Post Article you've posted a link to here.

...Thirdly, JACK shared what he saw in a now Communist Vietnam when he went back to the IA DRANG Valley of the Mid-1990's with JOE GALLOWAY and now retired Lt. Gen. HAL G. MOORE. This trip is chronicalled in an ABC News "DAY ONE" TV Special. What he saw there was a North and a South Vietnam that is poorer and in worse shape then when he first left it in November 1965.

...After JACK was finished with his riveting speech now retired General of the Army SHINSIKI stood to shake his hand. I was then blessed to give my "Thank You" to him as he went on to his chair. With that "Thank You" came JACK's sigh of satisfying relief at being so well received.

T'was all in GOD's Plan, perhaps..?